Making the Team: 2008 Endeavor

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When I look at the sport of endurance racing I see a need for stewardship. It seems every professional sport is plagued with drug scandals; EPO, blood doping, steroids, the list goes on. Yet while cheaters in baseball and football are treated with kids gloves from their organizations and with ambivalence from their fans; all professional endurance athletes are unfairly typecast by one rotten apple. One baseball player caught cheating is scolded but loses no prestige or income; with one cheating endurance athlete entire cycling teams are cut from races, entire teams lose medals. It is because of this that I believe marketing and sponsorships will edge away from elite athletes and begin targeting and creating age group teams. I believe EvoTri is at the tip of the spear in this regard by providing a team and a forum for age groupers to train and race like the pro's. It is only through united fronts, like EvoTri, that voices become loud enough to affect an entire community. And the endurance community needs someone to be that loud voice right now.

What EvoTri sponsors are looking for is consistency and inspiration. Start a blog they say? I have been a blogger for over three years, helping create the triathlon blogesphere this team is seeking to tap into. In that time I have written almost 1,400 posts dedicated to not just my passions, but motivated others and been an inspiration to others. I have been a steady voice for people struggling with their health and who they think they are as a person, and if I can do it, anyone can.

I feel a responsibility to be a model for triathlon and I think I represent our sport well. I have written of tremendous success and awful failures. I try to relate how hard and how satisfying triathlon can be to non-triathletes. I believe it is only through steadfast examples of writing down dreams and overcoming adversities that people make sense of what they want to accomplish in life and only then do they begin to envision who they could potentially be. Isn't that the cornerstone of EvoTri's mission statement?

I am not a athlete of noticeable regard or talent. I have no discernible strength or speed or balance. What I have is tremendous willpower and Heart. I am self deprecating and have a dry sense of humor, but take life seriously and love people. If you have the inclination, this is my story.

I am a warrior for this sport. With all my heart I want to increase the number of people involved in triathlon. I will be an asset to EvoTri and the sponsors because I have the same mission they have, to grow this sport. We can create a marketing legacy and show that age groupers are a worthwhile investment.

CommonManSyndrome